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User blog:Ezekielfan22/Barbara Thorndyke (The Golden Girls)
Barbara Thorndyke (Bonnie Bartlett) is the villainess of "Dorothy's New Friend", episode 3.15 of The Golden Girls (airdate January 16, 1988). She was a well-known author from Miami who spoke at a lecture of the school Dorothy Zbornak (one of the series' protagonists) taught at. After the lecture, Dorothy introduced herself to Barbara, with the women going out for coffee and talking for hours, with Dorothy being thrilled to have a new friend to have engaging conversation with. However, Barbara's true colors begin to emerge upon meeting Dorothy's roommates Blanche Devereaux and Rose Nylund, beginning by becoming irritated with them after telling the story about her lucky brooch. It would soon after become clear that Barbara looked down on Blanche and Rose, believing them to be less intelligent than herself. Things between Barbara, Blanche, and Rose increased when they invited Barbara for dinner to give her a second chance at a first impression, with Barbara arrogantly defending herself when Blanche tried to critique one of her older novels and declining on Rose's offer to play an adult's hide-and-seek game from her childhood. When Dorothy accepted Barbara's invitation to a writer's symposium that coming Friday, Rose reminded Dorothy that she was supposed to join her for a masquerade ball at her counselling center that day, leading her and Blanche to confess to Dorothy that they found Barbara to be condescending and insulting towards them. Dorothy vehemently defended Barbara and her friendship with her, and later confided in Barbara over dinner that things between her and her roommates were tense, believing they felt left out of their friendship. Barbara initially callously referred to Blanche and Rose as "limited", but upon being told by Dorothy that they were great friends to her, decided to give them another chance by inviting them and their dates to the exclusive Mortimer Club. Upon arriving for their shared date, Barbara got into mild conflict with Blanche over bringing her creative writing student Norman as her date (claiming they were the same age spiritually) before saying she hoped their night would let them start fresh. Barbara was shortly afterwards introduced to Murray Guttman (the date of Dorothy's mother Sophia Petrillo), with Barbara having Dorothy come with her to the kitchen to reveal there was a problem: Barbara had come to believe that Murray was Jewish due to his last name, and revealed that he wouldn't be admitted into the Mortimer Club as a result. When questioned by Dorothy why she would be a member of an anti-Semetic club, Barbara tried to defend herself by saying that it was the club's policy rather than hers, with Dorothy countering that she still tolerated the Mortimer Club's bigotry. Barbara went on to say she tolerated a lot of things, while outright stating that she was only tolerating Blanche and Rose due to being friends with Dorothy. Now seeing that her friends were right about Barbara, Dorothy informed Barbara that she wasn't the type of person she wanted as a friend and suggested that Barbara go to the Mortimer Club by herself, officially ending her friendship with her by telling her to "go to Hell". While initially shocked, Barbara ultimately smirked at Dorothy before storming out in a huff. Trivia *Bonnie Bartlett also appeared on Murder, She Wrote as the evil Marilyn North. Videos Category:Blog posts Category:1980s Category:Blonde Category:Bully Category:Callous Category:Hero's Friend Category:Live Action Villainess Category:Nasty, but Small-Time Category:Villainous Reveal Category:Fate: Humiliated